Mumbai, Maharashtra: In an exclusive interview with IANS, the cast of the upcoming mystery thriller television series Shaque: Trust No One, including actors Tahir Raj Bhasin, Parineeti Chopra, and Soni Razdan, opened up about the series. During the conversation, Tahir shared details about the world his character comes from. Further in the conversation, Parineeti spoke about what she finds most exciting to explore in a psychological thriller. Soni Razdan also shared how she uses silence as an actor to bring depth to her performance. Parineeti also reacted to a sweet post shared by her husband, politician Raghav Chadha, for her in the morning and how it played out for her amid a hectic day of interviews. Both Soni and Parineeti also reacted to actress Katrina Kaif recently getting trolled for her postpartum weight gain and shared their views on women being body-shamed in 2026.
#ShaqueTrustNoOne #Shaque #ParineetiChopra #TahirRajBhasin #SoniRazdan #RaghavChadha #KatrinaKaif #BodyShaming #PsychologicalThriller #IANS #OTT #WebSeries #TellyExpress #IANS
#ShaqueTrustNoOne #Shaque #ParineetiChopra #TahirRajBhasin #SoniRazdan #RaghavChadha #KatrinaKaif #BodyShaming #PsychologicalThriller #IANS #OTT #WebSeries #TellyExpress #IANS
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FunTranscript
00:00So hello everyone, welcome to NS and congratulations for Shag that's about to release on Netflix on 24th of September.
00:05My first question is for Tahir.
00:08You have wished this.
00:10Since the mic is in your hands, I thought.
00:13So if you could help me walk through your character, the world that he comes from,
00:17the relationship between the two of you that you share and everything that moves around as the piece of puzzle
00:22in this.
00:23Sure. Shag is a mystery thriller.
00:27It's been written by Renzil De Silva and produced by Siddharth P. Malhotra and Alchemy Films.
00:32The story is about a mother who's lost a child and has been searching for that child for nine years
00:39and what impact that search has had on her family and the society around her.
00:44I am the husband, so by virtue of that, I have also lost a child now for nine years.
00:50My character's name is Alok Dutt.
00:53Anvita is married to him and he has the burden of managing the emotional sense of loss and anguish that
01:03the wife is going through,
01:04but also trying to have some semblance of a family and having his idea of a happy family or whatever
01:09happiness he can get.
01:10He is also the father of their second daughter.
01:13He is a son.
01:14He is a friend.
01:16And what makes him interesting is that in every episode, you unravel layers to his character, which only adds pieces
01:22to the puzzle.
01:23And what I particularly enjoyed was the way the script is written.
01:27It was a real page turner.
01:28And I feel like as the show progresses, every character in the show has a character arc that ultimately adds
01:38to the overall mystery with the audience ultimately playing detective.
01:43And coming to you, Pariniti, psychological thriller, if I may call this content piece as what's the best thing to
01:52explore when you get such a character who is dealing with conflicts at her own and internally and then this
01:58whole round of external conflicts also going on.
02:01What's that for you as an actor?
02:03The best part is to play every layer convincingly because such a tragedy in one's life cannot lead to a
02:15singular personality.
02:16You have all these certain, all these different emotions that come into your life, into your mind, into your behavior.
02:23You're different in front of the society.
02:25You're different in front of your household.
02:28You're different amongst friends.
02:30So to play each one of those different emotions convincingly, to make sure that your heart and your support is
02:44with this character was the most interesting for me.
02:48I felt like, you know, she could be crazy and you still understand why she's crazy.
02:55She could be crying and you should know why she's crying.
02:57So that for me was the most fun.
02:59I think I had to keep that kind of emotional continuity, which I really enjoyed exploring.
03:08Yes.
03:08I have always felt that you're a very switch on switch off kind of an actor.
03:11You don't get into too much of, you know, you don't let affect the mood you as a person.
03:17But when you have something like this, when you have to unravel the layers, as you mentioned, how do you
03:22deal with it?
03:23How do you cleanse your system?
03:24How do you come out of that train wreck of emotion if you have to?
03:28No, the word cut cleanses me.
03:30I honestly, not even for a single second carry an emotion.
03:35In fact, people make fun of me that I'm like sobbing and crying and screaming and they say cut and
03:43I'm like, ha ha ha.
03:43I've had people actually enact this to me saying, how are you doing this?
03:49But that's a great quality.
03:50I don't know.
03:51I don't know because I feel like it's not something I do on purpose.
03:56It's just how I am, I think, as a person because I'm truly acting in that moment, however much I
04:02may feel and I have real tears coming out and real emotion and physicality.
04:06But the moment you say cut, I remember that, oh, cut.
04:09Okay, I have nothing to do now.
04:11So I genuinely switch off.
04:15Thank God it's like that because I think I would get very tired because there are many of these heavy
04:19characters that I'm playing nowadays.
04:21I think if I had the hangover, I think I would be exhausted as an artist also and as a
04:26person so most definitely.
04:28And I can't do this one thing just because I'm playing a role in a film or a show.
04:32I can't just carry that emotion throughout my days and waste all that time.
04:36I have a life outside of that set and I have to live that also.
04:40I can't be like, but now I have an emotional scene, so I'm still in this mood in my birthday
04:44party.
04:47Happy birthday.
04:51So, thank God I can switch off because I would have it no other way.
04:56Okay, okay.
04:56And ma'am, coming to you, your presence is so powerful in the trailer.
05:00Barely a few words and I'm like, my whole attention is on your character.
05:04Really?
05:04Yeah, yeah.
05:05If you could help me, how you use silences as an actor?
05:10Oh my gosh, that's a very difficult question.
05:14I don't know if I use silences as an actor.
05:17I actually feel I would like to use them a lot more.
05:21I feel sometimes as actors, we are frightened of silences because we are given lines and our job is to
05:28say those lines.
05:30And I think as I grow as an actor, I'm learning that finding the spaces between those lines is now
05:39becoming what I'm finding interesting for me.
05:45I'm discovering that as an actor, those layers, because we are allowed to do it.
05:49Earlier we were not allowed.
05:50We had those dialogue, chunky dialogue, that we had to say all these kind of flowery things and finish it
05:55off.
05:55But now I think I'm discovering the silences between the words and I'm being allowed to do that as an
06:02actor for the work that I'm doing.
06:05And it's interesting that you mention it because how do I use them?
06:08I don't know how I use it.
06:09But I think, you know, when you're in a scene, you're responding to the other actors there and you're responding
06:16to the situation and you have not switched off.
06:23You're still speaking.
06:26You're just not speaking through words.
06:27You're speaking through your thoughts communicated through your eyes.
06:31And there is always a tricky thing.
06:35How much do you reveal and how much do you conceal?
06:37So at the same time, especially in a thriller like Shaq, you're revealing while you're concealing or you're concealing while
06:46you're revealing or whatever.
06:47So it's quite interesting.
06:49And I think that's in a thriller is when you get or even as people, we do it all the
06:53time, right?
06:54In our daily lives also, we ask questions, but we actually, actually mean something else.
06:58We ask a simple question.
07:00What do you want for dinner today?
07:01But actually, we actually mean, then don't you dare tell me that you want this, this, this or this or,
07:06you know, something like that.
07:07So I think silences are very powerful and fun to explore.
07:14It's a very long answer for your simple question.
07:17I love it actually.
07:18And Tahir, coming to you, Renzil is one storyteller who's associated with intense storytelling.
07:25Rang Devasanti, Kurban, Shaq now.
07:27If you could share your experience of working with him and what do you like the most about him as
07:30a storyteller?
07:32I think the beauty of working with Renzil, sir, is anyone who's interacted with him knows that he is the
07:37sort of definition of calm and chill.
07:39So he's not an intense person himself.
07:42But what I've loved about his work is how he manages to write these great ensemble pieces where every character,
07:49you mentioned Rang Devasanti, that's like cult for my generation.
07:53And I really felt a lot of that kind of that style of writing with Shaq, where every character has
08:03a journey through this series.
08:05And as you go through the series, you realize that it's unlike any other mystery thriller where normally you would
08:12have one crime and then one detective whose point of view you're seeing or one victim's point of view.
08:17But here, of course, Anvita is on that search.
08:20But everyone around her, you often see different vantage points of like what is happening in character X's life.
08:28And that makes it interesting for the audience because ultimately they are piecing together the story.
08:33And with Renzil, I think with the kind of experience that he comes with, he understands that less is more.
08:39He knows that his text does all the work.
08:42So he won't give you micromanaging instructions.
08:46That is the amount of instruction you'll get.
08:52And I think he knows with each of his cast members who he has to sort of churn in which
08:57way in order to get a performance.
09:00And Paneethi, coming to you, Raghup posted a very sweet Instagram post for you.
09:06Starting of the day and then you get something like this from your loved one.
09:10And then you have to go for the interviews, a hectic schedule.
09:12What plays on your mind generally in things like these?
09:15Yeah, he really, it was a very sweet surprise.
09:18And because his social media is all about politics, policy, governance.
09:24But a sweet surprise like this where he's doing a nice little filmy, almost romantic post for my work is
09:31quite a sweet surprise.
09:32I think it's very thoughtful of him.
09:34And he is actually a very thoughtful boy.
09:36And he's just all heart.
09:39So these are the sweet little things he does that really take my heart away actually.
09:44So yeah, I can put you in a great mood and it just reminds you of your partner.
09:49You know, partner standing behind you even though I'm here.
09:54My baby's at home.
09:55He's with my baby.
09:56So just all these things really can encourage a woman, you know, encourage a human.
10:03Just to smile and I can be at promotions happy and worry free.
10:07And it's the sweetest gift I think your partner can give you.
10:11So yeah, I feel good.
10:12And for my last question, it's for ma'am and for you.
10:15Yes.
10:17Currently on social media, people troll a lot of artists because they're easily accessible on social media.
10:23Recently we saw people were trolling Katrinakai for which Salman Sir stood up.
10:27Correct.
10:27As women who witness all these things, you know, for someone else or I'm sure aapke label trolling hua hua
10:35kaphi na kaphi.
10:36How do you deal with it?
10:37And do you think that even in 2026, the society is still not over body shaming women or no, it's
10:44not passed beyond that?
10:47Yeah, I don't deal with it because actually I don't even look at it.
10:50If it happens to me, first of all, mostly I'm not aware of it because I don't spend that much
10:55time on social media.
10:57And even if I'm aware of it, it makes no difference to me.
11:00I'm just too true to my life.
11:02I'm just too true to my, you know, my time, my family, my friends, my own life.
11:09I really couldn't be bothered about unknown people talking about me.
11:14It has nothing to do with me.
11:16I have no time for this nonsense.
11:18Regarding your second question of 2026 and body shaming women, oh, I find it uneducated and bizarre.
11:27I just find it absolutely bizarre.
11:29I, you know, I find it bizarre that especially postpartum women are even discussed.
11:39I don't understand why.
11:40I just don't get it.
11:42I genuinely don't get it.
11:43If a woman has produced a baby and there is some evidence of that on her body, why is it
11:51negative?
11:52It's a sign of superhuman strength.
11:54Isn't that beautiful evidence?
11:54Isn't that beautiful evidence?
11:56Like you go to the Maldives and you have tanned skin.
12:00That's evidence of you being in the Maldives.
12:01You go to the gym and you have abs.
12:03That's evidence of you working out in the gym.
12:06You fall down and break your leg and you have a cast on your leg.
12:09That's evidence that you fell down and broke your bones.
12:12So why is producing a human being for nine months giving you the necessary changes in your body that were
12:20required to make that baby a healthy baby?
12:23Why is that discussed?
12:25And even if it's discussed, why is it negative?
12:28I would look at a postpartum woman and be like, have you just produced a baby?
12:32I can see it.
12:33It's beautiful.
12:34Oh my God.
12:35How's your baby?
12:36I see it like that.
12:37How can you say anything negative about this thing that a woman has said?
12:42And especially something as stupid as weight?
12:45Oh Lord.
12:46Okay.
12:47Clearly they don't have lives.
12:49They definitely don't have education.
12:50They don't have basic human decency.
12:53So I don't have time for all this nonsense and no woman should even waste a single breath of hers
12:59to even listen to all this.
13:01Yeah.
13:02So basically I think as actors, if all of us started reacting to comments and trolls, we wouldn't get out
13:11of bed in the morning because you can't.
13:13So I think we all have a defense mechanism.
13:17Whereby we probably don't, I don't see it.
13:19I'll switch it off.
13:20So I think that's the one way to, the only way actually to deal with negativity because I don't want
13:29negativity in my life.
13:31And as I said earlier, I think that we are very grateful because we get a lot of love.
13:36I look at the love.
13:38I don't see the negativity, whatever it is.
13:41And for whatever reason that that might be there.
13:44There are nowadays, I have come to understand.
13:47I didn't even know this because you don't know these things, right?
13:51People tell you slowly that there are things like campaigns and there are this and there are that.
13:57So, like, you know, put it to one side.
13:59Don't, don't, you know, it cannot, it cannot affect you.
14:02You have to be, you have to live your life.
14:04That's one.
14:05Second thing is, and how you do that is up to you.
14:07Whether you look at it, don't look at it, that's your problem.
14:09Second thing is about body shaming and that.
14:11I think it is a reflection of the society we have created.
14:15You know, everything that we do, like films are a reflection of society.
14:19Also, so is social media, a reflection of a society that you are creating.
14:23You have created a society that puts so much importance on how you look, which cosmetics you are using, which
14:32brand of magnesium are you having, which this are you doing, what that are you doing, which muscle are you
14:38building, which are you not building, are you slim, are you fat, are you this, are you that.
14:41I mean, at the end of the day, this is the society that we're living in.
14:45So, this is a result of that.
14:48People, I seem to think, have nothing else to do.
14:52I don't know, you know.
14:54So, yes, I believe in freedom of speech.
14:56If by all means, this makes you happy, go ahead and do it.
14:59I think it's a terrible waste of time.
15:01I think there's much more that you could be doing with your time.
15:04Much more, many more productive things that you could be doing.
15:07I completely agree with what Pairi says about, you know, the fact that when you produce a baby, it is
15:13a wonderful thing.
15:14And if it has an effect on your body, it has to have an effect on your body.
15:18You cannot possibly look like a Barbie doll and produce a baby.
15:20It's not possible.
15:21It's humanly impossible.
15:21Yeah, it's ridiculous.
15:22And the second thing is, the other thing is ageism.
15:25There's a whole thing about ageism and, you know, all that also.
15:29So, just because you happen to be, you know, a slightly more grown-up actor, I'm talking about myself, not
15:37older, I would say grown-up, grown-up actor.
15:42Does it mean that you shouldn't act or you shouldn't, you know, do your best to look nice or you
15:49shouldn't be on social media or I shouldn't, you know, put myself out there?
15:53No, I don't think so.
15:54I think I'm going to enjoy my life.
15:55I'm going to do what I want to do.
15:57And if you don't like it, it's okay.
16:00It's your choice.
16:01Okay, this is my choice.
16:02That's your choice.
16:03Each to his own.
16:04I think I'll leave it at that.
16:05Absolutely.
16:06Yeah.
16:06Perfect.
16:07So, with that, we have reached the end of this conversation.
16:08If there's anything that I may have been asking as a question or something that you would have loved to
16:11talk about, so please feel free.
16:15Not from me.
16:16No?
16:16That's it.
16:17Okay.
16:17Perfect.
16:18So, on that note, thank you so much and I wish you all the best for Shakh on 24th September.
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